Your support in action: Dr Melanie McDowall

Dr Melanie McDowall has focused her research on developing new diagnostics to help choose the healthiest embryos to transfer to increase pregnancy success rates following IVF.

Her embryo research uses a technique called autofluorescence, which takes advantage of a cell’s natural emission of fluorescent light under UV illumination to identify the best quality embryos, which are not always recognised using the current morphology testing.

“Autofluorescence is non-invasive, takes five minutes, uses technology which currently exists in most labs, and embryos continue to grow with no negative effects on development.”

Having access to the Barr Smith Library’s resources has been instrumental in helping Dr McDowall to develop this non-invasive technique to increase the chance of successful pregnancies.

“It is integral to the success of my research that I stay on top of the latest data and findings of other groups around the world. I access scientific databases and journal articles through the online Barr Smith Library, allowing me to access high quality journals on my laptop, without having to leave my office.”

Melanie’s story is an example of how donations to the Barr Smith Library can make a real qualitative difference to the student and the researcher.